ADELAIDE, Australia - An Australian farmer held hostage in Mali for 12 days by a gang of men who had posed as an online love interest has urged others to be careful when seeking romance on the Internet.
Des Gregor, 56, traveled to the West African nation last month to meet his supposed bride, whom he had met on the Internet, and collect a dowry of gold bars worth $85,000.
But when he arrived, the wheat and sheep farmer was abducted by a gang of armed bandits who bound him, beat him with a machete and stole his cash and credit cards.
Gregor, who returned to his home state of South Australia with a police escort late Sunday, said the men told him they would hack his limbs off with a machete unless he paid them a $85,000 ransom.
The scam was stopped when Australian and Malian police, alerted by Gregor's family in Australia, tricked the kidnappers into taking Gregor to the Canadian Embassy to collect the ransom money.
Australian Federal Police said in a statement that Gregor's case was an "extreme example" of what can happen to people who succumb to Internet scams, and warned Australians to protect themselves.
Speaking to reporters, Gregor said he was met at the airport in Mali by a well-dressed man and had no indication that anything was amiss until he was led into a room where two men with a machete and a homemade pistol began demanding money.
"It's hard to explain what I thought," he said. "I basically was wondering what the hell was going on and then they started demanding money — then I knew things were serious."
Gregor said he had learned his lesson and urged others to be careful when looking for love online.
"I reckon another couple of days and I wouldn't have returned," he said. "Just be careful — make sure you check everything out 100 percent."
He must have been really desperate to go to Africa to get himself a black woman.He could have gone to many of the cities in the u.s.a to get himself a black woman.
I guess when a man becomes desperate for female company even a black African looks attractive.Though i am surprised he did not go nearer to his home in say Fiji, New guinea or even the aboriginies if he likes that sort of thing. Mind you they did eat a white man in Fiji some time ago so that is maybe one reason to avoid there.
I do not think they eat white people in Fiji any more, these days it is more westernized and they prefer big macs and the like. I think the guy from the Australian farm his plan was badly planned though what possesed him to go to central west Africa i do not know it seems totaly bizzare an act of desperation as you mention.
densven, too be fair hes not stupid. He knows no one in Fiji is going to give him a dowry of gold bars! On the other hand it wouldn't surprise me if he thought Mali was in Indonesia.
"his plan was badly planned though" You think? Part from not going how else could have he planned it better!